The Media Association has released a report analyzing the various aspects of the problem of Internet access blocks in Turkey. The report, looking at the Internet as a new conduit, examines Law No. 5651, which regulates the Internet, as well as the current YouTube and Google IP bans, and makes recommendations……..

Has surfing the Net become a crime? Are we not entitled to live in a knowledge-based economy? We must resist the temptation to judge the Turkish civic liberties book by its cover and instead find out who the real players are behind the recent domestic crusade against the free flow of information.

A recent survey reveals that 2.6 million out of 18 million total Turkish households has neither a computer nor Internet access. The research inspires the largest Internet provider of Turkey, where ADSL connection has been available for the past seven years, to launch a campaign that would allow users to have Internet access for as little as 2 Turkish Liras per day

This interview was originally published on Netsquared.org. I wrote this post about a new book called Digital Activism Decoded and followed up with editor Mary Joyce to learn more.

About the book:
Citizens around the world are using digital technologies to push for social and political change. Yet, while stories have been published, discussed, extolled, and derided, the underlying mechanics of digital activism are little understood. This new field, its dynamics, practices, misconceptions, and possible futures are presented together for the first time in Digital Activism Decoded.

Eighteen to 24-year-olds want news fast, they have little faith in established brands or corporations, and they see life as a game. BVA, a research institute in France conducted a 3-month study of youths into ‘Digital Natives’: individuals shaped by video games, computers, mobile phones and virtual systems.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation drove three deep wedges into the US prohibition on breaking DRM today. EFF had applied to the Copyright Office to grant exemptions permitting the cracking of DRM in three cases: first, to “jailbreak” a mobile device, such as an iPhone, where DRM is used to prevent phone owners from running software of their own choosing; second, to allow video remix artists to break the DRM on DVDs in order to take short excerpts for mashups posted to YouTube and other sharing sites; finally EFF got the Copyright Office to renew its ruling that made it illegal to unlock cellphones so that they can be used with any carrier.

Based on research carried out by Gartner, it has been determined that a whopping 20% of social media users are ‘influencers.’ Considering the increasing importance of such media in news dissemination and increasing website traffic, how can this information be exploited?

from Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology ? A Group Blog by Adam Fish

Working with digital media producers for the past few years I?ve begun to confuse their language with my other professional nomenclature, that of an anthropologist. Is this indeed confusion or a result of finally doing my job of seeing broader cultural systems in those practices?